Public has 54% stake in projects, expert concludes

If a new Chargers stadium is financed as others have been nationwide, the public would pay for more than half of it and the team would cover cost overruns.

That’s according to an analysis of 11 major football stadium projects since 2002 that was presented yesterday to the board of directors of the Centre City Development Corp., San Diego’s downtown redevelopment arm.

Stadium finance expert Mitchell Ziets said the public investment in construction or renovation projects averaged 54 percent and private contributions made up the rest.

Before 2002, public investment in NFL stadium deals averaged 65 percent, he said. Ziets called what’s happened since then a “fairly seismic shift” in private investment.

“There’s been a partnering, but the team owners and the league have realized that they need to put more in to get these done,” he said.

Ziets was hired two months ago for $160,000 to prepare a financing plan for a potential downtown San Diego stadium. Yesterday was his first public discussion of that work.

The review of new and remodeled National Football League stadiums excluded a stadium being built in New Jersey for the Jets and Giants and another proposed for Santa Clara that could house the 49ers and Raiders.

Ziets said two-team buildings are a different economic breed.

Ziets’ analysis means the taxpayer contribution to a new Chargers stadium could be in the $400 million range based on the team’s estimated $700 million to $800 million cost of building a venue east of Petco Park downtown.

Chargers special counsel Mark Fabiani, who has led the team’s stadium search since 2002, has said the team and the league might invest up to $300 million in the project; the league’s loan program, however, is currently depleted.

In December, Fabiani said additional financing would have to come from public sources, such as redevelopment money generated by borrowing against future property tax revenues in downtown’s redevelopment zone.

A movement is afoot to make that possible. The CCDC board voted unanimously yesterday to ask the City Council to greenlight a 15- to 18-month effort to get more redevelopment revenue for a stadium and other projects.

Afterward, Fred Maas, the CCDC’s board chairman, said it’s too early to talk about what a stadium financing plan might look like. He said Ziets is still months away from preparing a financing plan that might work for the city and the team.

Ziets said stadium financing has often come from redevelopment agencies in California, as was the case with Petco Park in San Diego and is proposed in Santa Clara.

Details of Ziets’ contract have been kept secret, but yesterday he indicated he would be involved in eventual negotiations with the team on behalf of the city.

Ziets examined stadiums built for the Detroit Lions, the Houston Texans, the New England Patriots, the Seattle Seahawks, the Philadelphia Eagles, the Arizona Cardinals, the Indianapolis Colts and Dallas Cowboys as well as renovations done for the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers and under way for the Kansas City Chiefs.